Extremist Groups Hated Charlie Kirk. They're Using His Death to Radicalize Others

"But in the immediate aftermath of Kirk being fatally shot while speaking at a Turning Point USA event Wednesday at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, these same groups were quick to frame the incident as an attack on one of their own, portraying Kirk's death as part of what they see as an ongoing war against white, Christian men."

"These groups, many of which have been relatively dormant since the mass arrests surrounding the January 6 attack on the Capitol, have used the outpouring of grief around Kirk's death as a lightning rod, a signal that they need to mobilize and take action. Many of them, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, have used Kirk's death as a recruitment and radicalizing tool to convince his supporters to take a more extreme worldview."

""Nothing can stop what is coming," Ryan Sánchez, the leader of the far-right National Network, who was caught on video giving a Nazi salute during last year's Conservative Political Action Conference, wrote on his Telegram channel. "We are mobilizing young Nationalists to defend our communities against the Radical Left-we need your help!" The appeals appear to be at least somewhat working: Sánchez's post was accompanied by a screenshot showing a $1,000 donation he received on Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo."

Extremist groups, white nationalists, and militias initially viewed Charlie Kirk as an enemy despite his conservative positions. After Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at a Turning Point USA event, many of those groups framed the killing as an attack on white, Christian men and used the event to mobilize. Groups that had been relatively dormant since the January 6 arrests treated the outpouring of grief as a signal to recruit and radicalize supporters. Organizations such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers amplified the narrative. Far-right leaders posted calls to mobilize and received donations through crowdfunding platforms.

Read at WIRED